


Coffee and scones can't buy a boyfriend

by orphan_account, SpaceLettuce



Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: College Setting, Fluff, Foggy smokes weed, M/M, coffee shop AU, long fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-19
Updated: 2015-07-07
Packaged: 2018-04-05 04:28:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4165887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account, https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceLettuce/pseuds/SpaceLettuce
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A story in which a broken coffee machine leads Foggy Nelson to totally fall for the unbearably cute barista, Matt Murdock.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> We hope you enjoy this. It's going to be a long one.

It was a early September morning and the last thing Foggy Nelson wanted to do was wake up. His alarm goes off reading 6:00am.  
"UGGGH NNnnnnn." Foggy said or rather moaned aloud but was barely audible as he smacks the alarm off. He rolls on his back and looks up at the ceiling and mentally prepares his body for the day ahead. "Come on Nelson. You can do this" He says heaving himself up from his bed. Typically, Foggy is a morning person, given that he has his coffee.

Foggy manages to shuffle to the bathroom and flicks on the light.  
He looks at himself and sees nothing but the rat’s nest that is his hair. Good god he has so much hair. But he would never think of cutting his hair, well at least not super short anyway.

Foggy continues to shuffle his body around the bathroom to finish his "routine" if you could even call it one. The warm shower had woken Foggy up quite a bit so he was somewhat less of a zombie.  
By 6:30 it was time to do the most important thing of the day, drink coffee. Oh and of course eat breakfast. All he needed was a good cup (or 5 cups) of coffee to really wake him up.

He made his way to the kitchen fully dressed and hair in a ponytail. He did not want his beautiful locks getting into his eggs because, let’s face it, hair and eggs aren’t the best culinary creation.  
Foggy usually had eggs in the morning. It was nothing fancy but the eggs where cheap and so was he.  
He made the eggs but before he eat them he had to start the coffee. Coffee always took the longest to brew. Foggy always forgets to make it first. The darn thing was at least 20 years old and was the slowest machine he had ever encountered. It was a gift from his mother. She gave it to him as a moving out gift. He likes to think of the old coffeemaker as more of a "get out of the house forever you stinky teenager" gift. But the damn thing works well so he isn't complaining.

He let the machine warm up before putting the coffee grounds in it. And as soon as he did the machine sputtered, spurted a shaky stream of gritty brown liquid into the mug, and then stopped all together.  
The morning’s haze melted away upon the realization of oh shit-- _the coffee machine broke. No machine means no coffee and we know that a Foggy without his coffee is a bear to be around. Literally. It's where he got the nickname Foggybear from._

He's going to have to do something he really really doesn't want to do: go out and buy a cup of coffee. He wishes he didn't have to, but he must. Foggy would rather pay a few dollars for a coffee instead of fall asleep in a class that he can't afford to miss.

Foggy searches around his dorm for change. He's lucky he lives alone because if he had a roommate they would kill him from all the noise he's making. Foggy manages to find a quarter here and a dollar there.  
He'll have to buy a new machine and quick. There is no way he's doing this every morning.

Foggy runs to his computer and pulls up google maps.  
The nearest coffee shop that he finds is really close. It should take him only 5 minutes to get there. He spares no time and puts on his shoes and heads out the door leaving behind his uneaten eggs. "I'm so sorry" he whispers to the eggs as he closes the front door.

The shop was right on campus. A lot of people he knew eat there but he had never been there himself. He always wanted to go in, but as a broke student buying good coffee in the morning wasn't something he could afford all the time.

As he walked closer Foggy could see the large letters above the door. "Hell's Kitchen".  
Foggy didn't know why but everytime he heard that name he thinks of a red man with horns making cinnamon buns with an apron on.

Foggy walks up to the doors of Hell's Kitchen and pulls on the door handle but it won't budge. _On no. Nonononononononono._ Panic runs through his mind. Foggy looks at the sign on the door "Monday we open at 7:30am and close at 8:00pm" Foggy glances at his watch. It's 6:50. Today was Monday. Dammit. He can see why everyone hates Mondays.

"Hello?" Foggy says pressing his face against the glass tapping his hand on the door like he's expecting an employee to magically appear out of the darkness and help him through the horrid morning by making him coffee. But no such luck.

Foggy knows they make coffee for his class every morning but Marci makes it and Foggy thinks she goes outside, finds a dirty puddle and scoops the water into the coffee maker.  
He shudders at the thought of having to drink that swamp water again.  
Today was not going to be a good morning.

\---------

It was cold this morning, Matt could practically feel the condensation on the glass windows of the shop as he walked down from his loft.  
That was one of the perks as working as some blind barista. The manager let him keep the loft half out of sympathy, and the other to make a few quick bucks at the end of the month when the rent was due. The loft was his home, if you’d call it that. The scant living place smelt strongly of the dust that had accumulated over the years from not being in use and mildew from the employees bathroom that was converted to Matt’s own personal bathroom. (shower installation came later during his first summer on the job). The loft seemed it would be a good case on Extreme Home Makeover because of its appearance that wouldn’t please any aesthetic. It went for the whole ‘urban grunge’ thing.

But not that Matt gave a shit about it. He was blind after all. The room could be filled with priceless paintings from the Renaissance and Matt couldn’t have cared less.

Now, Matt has been working in this coffee house since he was fifteen. As soon as he got his workers permit, he applied for the first job that wasn’t too visually requiring (for obvious reasons). After a few referrals, he landed himself a job at Hell’s Kitchen. The job was a bit hard at first, Matt was clumsy and sometimes mistook a hot machine for a counter and ended up burning his hands. After a few months, Matt could move about the aisle of coffee machines with ease. Matt bet his life that if it weren’t for his lack of eye contact, he could easily fool any customer that he had fully functioning vision. The regulars of course found out that he was blind, either by his walking cane propped up by the counter or that despite Matt’s honest efforts to pinpoint the sound of the mouth and then look in the general direction, the eye contact was a big giveaway.

 

Matt’s neat little flashback shattered upon hearing a knock at the shop’s door. According to his speaking wristwatch, it was still about 30 minutes until opening time. _Must be some crazy coffee addict who can't wait till opening_ , Matt thought.  
Matt walked to the door and cracked it open in with a guarded expression “Can I help you?”

A man’s voice responded with “Uh yeah, actually. You see, my coffee machine kinda had its long overdue death and I need my daily fix of caffeine to function”  
_I was right_.

Matt gestured over to general direction of the sign with the store hours, “We don’t open until 7:30...," The man made a sound that Matt couldn't really describe. It was almost like the cross of a 3-year-old child whine and a grown mans growl of disappointment "but I guess you can come on in. It’s cold this morning."

The man walked into Hell’s Kitchen with his hands in his pockets and a very obviously handmade knit cap. “Do you usually work in the dark or is this part of the whole artsy vibe?”

“Oh. Uh-right. Sorry," Matt shuffled over to the light panel and flicked the switch, warming Hell’s Kitchen with a soft yellow light. “Do you want anything? “

“Just black coffee. Usually I doctor it up with sugar and cream, but I’m feeling I’ll need just the pure stuff today”  
“And why’s that?” Matt mused.

“I’ve a class with my ex, Marci,” the other man sighed, “meaning I’ll need every ounce of energy not to let her snarky comments get to me”.

Matt nodded while behind the counter, “Name?”

“What?”

“Your name that I can put on the cup. That’s usually how coffee shops do it”

“Oh”. The embarrassment was easily detectable in the other man’s voice. “It’s Foggy”

Matt scribbled the name in sharpie and handed it to him, “Well, Foggy, call this the early bird special. This is on the house”

"Are sure? I can pay." Foggy says pulling a bunch of change for his jacket pocket. "I've got...hmm 25,50..." Foggy was counting his change determined to pay.

"No, really sir it's fine." Matt insisted turning on the coffee machine.  
Foggy looks up from his hand. He really doesn't want to go without paying anything. He looks around until he eyes a tip jar. And there it is, in all it's glory reading "Please tip. We need money for College : )"  
So Foggy being the guy he is, looks the barista in the eyes and drops all his change in the jar.  
Matt hears the clang of change hitting the glass and smiles. "Thank you sir."  
"No problem..."Foggy pauses as he squints to read the baristas name tag. "...Matt. And just call me Foggy."

\-----------

Foggy gets his coffee from Matt and he chooses a seat by the window. There was still another 20 minutes till Hell's Kitchen officially opens. And right now there was a lot of silence.

Foggy's curious and looks down at his cup and looks to see how he spelt his name.

It written in a mushed cursive and barely legible but hey, at least he got it right.

Matt walks in the direction of Foggy, his hand searching for the top of the chair opposite of Foggy’s and then carefully sitting himself down.

“It’s employee privilege, I don’t need to set another bad precedent what with customers coming in early”. He unwraps out a chocolate frosted donut swaddled in napkins printed with the Hell’s Kitchen Logo and takes a bite.

Foggy laughed into his hand, “Is that what you do when your boss is away? Disregard the opening hours and grazing off the pastries?”

"It's the only reason I work here." Matt said half jokingly raising the donut as if he is making a toast and takes another bite.

As Matt continued to eat his "stolen pastry" Foggy couldn't help but look at Matt. It's not like he's just noticing it but he never got a really good look because they had only spent a total of 6 minutes together, but Matt is REALLY good looking.

After a good 30 seconds of watching him eat a god damn donut Foggy snaps out of it and takes a big gulp of coffee. _I hope he didn't notice I hope he didn't notice I hope he didn't notice_ , Foggy thought frenetically. He ALWAYS got himself into awkward situations like this.

Matt could hear Foggy's heart beating really fast. _What for?_ Matt thought. _Foggy didn’t like him, did he?_

Foggy's face is growing hot. "Yeah, you're just a guy, right? A really, really good-looking guy. Oh, um I mean, girls must be all over you. Must be getting tips and phone number left and right"

_Annnnd there it is. There is no doubt that Foggy likes him._

"I...um" Was the only thing Matt could muster up.

_Foggy's heart beat was really racing._

“Oh God, I’m so sorry”. Foggy smacks his hand to his face and pushes his hair back, “Blame it partially on the lack of caffeine." Now there was a really awkward silence.  
"Do you know what? I should just let myself out before I say anything else embarrassing”. Foggy grabs his half finished coffee, gets out of the chair, and headed towards the door.

_Don't look back don't look don't look ba_ \- "Foggy!" Matt calls from the chair.  
Foggy turns around and sees Matt pull out another napkin wrapped donut and gestures in Foggy's general direction. "For the road." Matt smiles.

Foggy shuffles his way over to Matt and takes the donut from Matt extended hand. "Thanks..."  
Foggy's face was red. He didn't want to look Matt in the face he was still really embarrassed about what happened.

And that was it, Foggy left in the direction of the University. _Fuck_ , that was the first thing that came to his mind as he walked into the cool air of the morning. _Do I like guys? I mean I find them attractive. But am I attracted to them??,_ Foggy thought still walking away. This was all too confusing for him. He just needs to focus on staying awake and passing his classes.

_Wait..._ Foggy thought. _I was the only one in the shop...why did he ask for my name?_

Foggy passes it off as an automatic reflex and looks down at his watch.  
It was 7:30, half an hour till class. He takes another sip of his coffee _._


	2. Chapter 2

Foggy got to class right on time, but was sad his coffee cup was empty. It was really good, he wants to go back but doesn't think he can.

He completely embarrassed himself in front of Matt. Matt the super hot barista. You know, the one he totally was head over heels for? _Aarrgggghhhhhhh_

He entered the building and headed upstairs to his classroom.

"Hiya Foggybear!" A voice from behind said as they slapped his back, followed by the sound of high heels clacking against the linoleum floors.   

"Dammit Marci!" Foggy says turning around almost dropping his coffee cup. "You know I hate when you do that!"

"Awwww did I scare you Foggybear?" Marci said in a mocking tone, like she was talking to some babbling three-year-old.  

"Whatever." Foggy waved her away and found a seat. He really didn't want to deal with her bad vibes right now. She was his ex and she was very, very annoying. If she keeps pestering him it's going to take more than coffee to get him through the day.

The reason he broke up with Marci was because she was always mocking and making fun of him. Also whenever he spent the night, she was never affectionate. By the time he was just waking up she would have already eaten and gotten dressed. "Leave after you get your clothes on.  You know where the door is" She would say. And with that he would be alone in her apartment feeling lonely and used.

His relationship with Marci was not healthy and he realizes that now. And unfortunately they have classes together and Foggy had to stomach seeing her eight hours a week..

"Ohhhhhh so I see you finally visited Hell's Kitchen?" She says eyeing the coffee cup in his hand. "Did you see that handsome mystery barista? He never looks anyone in the eye."

Marci was jabbing him in the side with her elbow. "I didn't think they were open this early on a Monday. Did you flirt your way in?" Marci was winking now.

_God, he hates her and her designer clothes._

"I don't have the patience to deal with your crap today Marci." Foggy said outright. Today was off to a bad start already, between breaking his coffee machine and suffering from a severe case of verbal diarrhea with Matt.

"Woah." Marci said putting up her arms in front of her as if she were surrendering. "No need to get hostile over here."

Foggy rolls his eyes. He really wasn’t in the mood to deal with Marci--today especially.

\---------

 

Meanwhile back at Hell's Kitchen, Matt was trying to take in what Foggy had said to him.

"I mean. It isn't uncommon for people the remark on your looks. Right?" Matt said as he prepared the store for opening. Matt was getting a bit flustered now. When Foggy was around he acted pretty calm but now that he left Matt was left to his own devices to process what exactly happened earlier that morning.

_The fast or quickened heartbeat is an indication of infatuation._

It went without dispute that the second Matt had opened the door for Foggy his heart rate had gone from sluggish to one similar to a finishing marathon runner.  

 

\----------

 

The next morning, Matt heard the bell attached to the door jingle.

“Goodmorning!” It was Foggy.  

“I see you’ve made it in here during actual store hours. Is the machine still broken?” Matt said from behind the counter, his back turned to him as he began to set up the pumps of flavored syrup on a shelf.

“Yeah, seems like my old coffee pot found its final resting place in the garbage behind my building. God rest its soul."

“So you’re a regular now?” Matt walked down the aisle using the edge of the counter to guide him to a hook where his apron was draped on.

“Well, as regular as my paycheck will allow. Hope that won’t be a problem”

‘Why--Why would I ever have a problem?”

“I don’t know”, Foggy shifted uncomfortably, resting his closed hands on the counter, “With what I said yesterday and all I thought I embarrassed myself too much to even put my foot in the same room as you”

Matt made a little laugh. "You are very forward."

"It's a habit." Foggy said scratching the back of his head.

"Well it's not a completely terrible one." Matt said making his way to the register. "So. What can I get you this morning?"

"I'm going to go wiiiiith..." Foggy looks up at the chalkboard menu above Matts head. " A Peppermint Mocha Frappuccino please."

"Ahhh a cold sugar packed drink on a cold day. Great logic." Matt punched numbers into the register. "That will be $4 even".

"You're gonna bleed me dry, Hell's Kitchen." Foggy said as he looked up and shook his fist in the air jokingly.

“Unfortunately I unable to hand out free drinks to every customer that shows up early”

“Am I some some kinda of exception or something?”

“Essentially Yes," Matt cracked a grin "Excuse me, I have to take this”. He ducked out of the conversation to take a few orders from the stream of scarf bundled customers out to get their morning coffee before work started.  

Eventually the morning crowd boiled down to a few stragglers and Matt was able to have a break.  Foggy stuck around in a booth in the corner, hunched over a dated laptop and occasionally taking a sip from his drink.  Matt didn’t mind the company, this shop’s influx of customers acted like the tides; full in the morning and empty during the evening.  He’s glad to hear someone clicking away on the laptop, it made the job feel less lonely.

A track from an acoustic cover plays on repeat, the twang of the guitar and the soft vocals mingled together and filled the silence.

Matt hangs up his apron and swipes a croissant from the glass shelf of pastries. “I’m sorry that morning rush cut our conversation short. You were saying?”.  Matt takes a bite of the croissant, some of the flaky crust gets all over him.

Foggy shut his laptop and laughed, “Dude, you’ve a little—“ he made a swiping motion over his face.  

Matt furrowed his eyebrows, “I have what?”

“A little smutz”, Foggy repeated the gesture again.

Matt stared at Foggy with a puzzled expression.

“Croissant, man. It’s all over your face”

“Oh. Um, yeah, thanks”, Matt smiles from embarrassment and finally gets what Foggy is trying to say and wipes the remains of the croissant with a napkin. “Can I sit with you?”

“Please. By all means”, Foggy scoots down the booth to make room and pushes his pile of folders back.

Matt guesses that all these folders are for stuff at school. “So, what are you studying for? I don’t want to seem prying but you mentioned taking classes yesterday”.

Foggy beams and straightens up. “I’m studying to be a lawyer”. It’s obvious that he’s proud of it, Matt can sense it in his voice.

“That’s interesting. I want to be a lawyer as well. I’m taking night classes in addition to working here”

He whistled, “Wow you must be like the Energizer bunny or something. I’m a full time student and lemme tell you, I’m winded by the end of the day”.

“Yeah, hopefully I won’t have to be juggling a job and school work for too much longer—”

Being a barista wasn’t Matt’s ultimate career goal. It helped pay the bills and came with a reasonable rent but at the end of the day, Matt dreamed of being a lawyer. Helping the little guy, doing the right thing with the law on his side, the whole shebang. This working in Hell’s Kitchen was temporary, just enough for him to shrug off some weight of student loans to allow him to take night classes without making him dirt poor.

Foggy glances down at his watch and shovels all his folders into his ratty backpack, “Shit man, I’m late for class”

“I suppose my lunch break is over as well”, Matt says as he gets up and crumples up the napkin.  

Matt scoots out of the booth to let Foggy out.  "Well." Foggy said clutching his backpack in front of him while he walks backwards. "Off to class." Foggy scoots to the door like he’s afraid if he stays any longer, he’d make a fool out out of himself, again. And with that he hits the door with his back before finally opening it and stumbling out. Foggy coughed and tried to compose himself.

Matt couldn't see Foggy's clumsy attempt to leave the shop but he could hear enough to know that there were definitely some new hand prints on the glass door that he's going to need to clean off.  

"So that's the regular you keep checking out?" A voice from behind the counter said. It was Claire, his co-worker.

Matt suddenly got defensive. "I-I'm not checking him out! For starters I AM blind, and secondly we are friends, if you’d can even go that far to call us that. He's just a customer."

"Alright here Pinocchio." Claire says turning away to clean the espresso machine. She was laughing to herself now.

"You're going to freak the customers out if you keep laughing for no reason like that." Matt says in her general direction.

"I think your _friend_ did that for me."

"I hope you get fired." He says jokingly.

"Aw but Matty, you would miss me too much."

Matt and Claire have a good relationship. They have been working together for a few years now and them joking around like this isn't anything new. They had previously been in a romantic relationship together but it didn't work out but thankfully they had managed to stay close friends.

It's been a long time since Matt has been in a stable relationship. All his past relationships had ended within a month and he never really knew if he liked them. This included Claire.

Matt may have been raised for a good chunk of his childhood in a catholic orphanage but it never stopped him from questioning how he felt about other people. He never thought of his feelings as a sin as the church told him it was. Matt just never knew how to act on his feelings and didn't want to screw up any of his friendships by trying.

And it was pretty damn obvious that Foggy had a thing for him. Matt didn't need to be able to hear heart beats to know that much was true.

All Matt needed to figure out was if he felt the same way...

And it's not like it's going to be an easy task. He does feel a connection to Foggy but he also doesn't want to screw up his friendship he has made with him over the past few visits Foggy has made to Hell’s Kitchen.

_Goddammit_ , Matt thought as he took a seat in the employee area of Hell's Kitchen and put his head in his hands. _What am I going to do?_

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

Foggy eventually bought a new coffee machine (well, it wasn't new Foggy found it at a second hand store) for his dorm but he still continued to go to Hell’s Kitchen whenever he could. He just couldn't shake Matt.

I really like talking to Matt, Foggy thinks turning on the new old coffee machine. And by the way he hasn't totally rejected me, I think he feels the same way. Foggy was humming to himself now. Feels the same way about being friends I mean! He quickly added as if someone was listening to the one sided conversation in his head and needed to reassure them that they were nothing more than companions.

Foggy sighed, _Right. Just friends._

\-------

Foggy's day was pretty uneventful. Same old paperwork, Marci being and ass, feeling super tired. Same ole same ole.

He was chewing the end of his pen now. He's been doing it for years, but not out of nervousness or anxiety (he has other ways for helping with that) he just chews on them because he needs something to do, keep his mouth busy. He tried cigarettes once, biggest mistake ever. No way he's touching those cancer sticks again.

Foggy had already finished his assignment for the day and had nothing to do. Foggy wanted to go to Hell's Kitchen to see Matt but he had already spent his $4 that morning on a breakfast bar at a vending machine. So maybe he'll see Matt in a few days.

"Off daydreaming again Foggybear?" Marci says as she twirls her fingers in Foggy's hair as she walks past him.  
"You know Franklin, if you're free tonight-"

He knew exactly what she was asking for and there was no way he was going to say yes.  
He swatted her hand away. "There was a reason I broke with you." He was not impressed with her right now.

"Fine. Have it your way." Marci walks away in a huff. "But you are definitely missing out."

"No I'm not." Foggy says under his breath as he stuck out his tongue at her. Luckily she didn't see or she would have stomped on it with her stupid designer heels. He's positive she could use the damn things as a weapon.

As soon as she was out of sight it was back to chewing on pens for Foggy.

He has ruined A LOT of pens over the years by chewing on them. He grew up with his half-sister and knew just about every way to be walked over. In his younger years he would deliberately chew on the ends to deter his half-sibling from taking them. He had to share everything, including pens He swears before he chewed on the ends they would always "magically" disappear. But now it's become a habit. And a gross one at that.

 

He wasn't able to focus on anything at the moment. His mind was everywhere but no where at the same time.

\--------

Friday's before closing have always been uneventful for Matt because he was working, not that he minded. He wasn’t into the whole party and club thing or whatever other students are doing, mostly because he was just oversensitive to stimuli and the combination of loud music, crowded rooms, and the overpowering stench of bile and spilt beer. So he just steered clear of those kinds of situations.

But Friday night also meant less people inside Hell’s kitchen. The morning tide was long gone and now the majority of the customers in the booths were college kids taking advantage of the complimentary wifi to finish their papers. Among the college kids seated in the booths was Foggy in his usual place; in the corner with a pile of papers scattered across the table.

Matt had noticed that this was Foggy's first time back in Hell's Kitchen after not coming in for a few days.

“Cramming for an exam?" Matt asked as he walked toward the booth and taking a sip of his drink and carrying over another cup. Claire was wiping down the machines and putting stuff away. The shop was winding down and getting ready to close, so he figured he could skimp a few minutes of his shift to check up on his friend.

Foggy bit the top of his pen and had his eyes glued to the computer screen. “Something like that."

Matt didn’t want to waste any of Foggy’s time because when it came to cramming, every second counted, but he had cashed in his freebie drink to split with his friend. Coffee was the universal friend of college kids, granting quick bursts of energy and concentration. And if anyone needed coffee right now, it was Foggy. Christ, Matt hadn’t seen Foggy this stressed in all the times he came to Hell’s Kitchen to hunker down and study.

“I, uh, spilt my drink because I know you need the fuel and you can’t pay for a full size anyway”. He pushed the paper cup to his friend being careful not to tip it and spill all over the computer.

“How’d you know that?”

 _When you came in and set your backpack down, the clang of the change wasn’t enough to buy the usual four dollar drink_ “ Call it a lucky guess”

Foggy peels his eyes from the screen to take a swig of the coffee and let out a refreshed sigh, “Thanks man."

Claire walked over and clapped Matt on the back.”We’re closing up in five. I spotted you on cleanup duty, but you have to get your boyfriend out of here so you can lock up”.

“I’m not. He’s not my…” Matt stammered.

“Nah it’s cool man. She’s joking. Besides, I should turn in. I’ve been studying all day and I think if I stayed awake any longer I'll turn into a zombie." Foggy said while piling his overstuffed folders into his backpack. “Matt, one quick thing before I go,” Foggy slings his backpack over his shoulder and pushes his hair nervously away from his face. “I was wondering if you wanted to hang out at my place Saturday? You totally don’t have to go if you don’t want to or anything but-"

“T-that sounds great!”

“Wait. Really?” Foggy looks genuinely surprised, as that was the most unexpected answer he could've received.

“Yeah. I’d love to. Is 6 a good time?"

"Yeah! That's perfect." Foggy pulls out a pen from the pocket of his backpack and jots downs the address, the dorm number and writes 'Foggy Nelson' on his paper cup and hands it to Matt. "I’ll see you soon then!”

And with that Foggy left Hell's Kitchen with a spring in his step.

"Claire," Matt said holding the coffee cup that Foggy had left behind. "I'm going to need you to read something for me."

\-------

-Saturday evening-

Foggy was lucky that he had the day off because his dorm was a mess. It was as if a hurricane had hit his dorm, twice. He really should have cleaned it before jumping to invite Matt over. _But it's not like I have to clean it perfectly. Because it's not a date, right?_ Foggy thought as he picked up a pile of dirty socks and chucked them into the hamper.  
"We're just two friends hanging out." He said matter of factually. "That's it."

_If you two are just friends then why do you get all blushy and awkward when you talk to him?_

That was the confusing part. Foggy liked Matt. It seemed like a very middle schooly thing to say but he like liked Matt. Foggy has always been bad about figuring out his sexuality.  
He was neither here nor there when it came to what he preferred.

But Foggy knew one thing for sure. He had the hots for Matt and had no idea what to do about it.

Foggy glanced at his clock on the radio. It was 5 something, a good hour before Matt was supposed to poke his head through the door. He could use this time to cash in an extra hour of studying so he would have one less hour of work before finals--or completely procrastinate. As you could’ve guessed, Foggy chose the latter. He cracked open a tub of that Tollhouse cookie dough and began to shape little clusters of dough in a uniform line on the baking pan. Foggy even helped himself to a tablespoons worth of raw dough because, let’s face it, who abides by the ‘do not consume raw’ labels?

The cookie were taken out of the oven to cool just in time for Matt to come in, 6:01pm. Speaking of Matt, where was he? Foggy checked his watch again. 6:03pm. _Oh God, he’s standing you up_ Foggy thought munching on a too-hot cookie. _He only said yes because he’s just polite that way. He didn’t say no to your face and give you a lifetime supply of embarrassment!_

“Is this dorm number 312?” a voice could be heard saying from the hall of the dorm.

_Oh shit. So he isn’t a no-show._

There was a knock on the door and Foggy opens it before Matt has time to knock for a second time.

Matt is taken back from how quickly the door opened. He is left with his hand still in the standard door knocking position.

“Hey, Matt! I’m so siked you actually showed up. I was kinda thinking you wouldn’t-”

“Show up?” Matt laughs

Foggy shrugs. "Well now that you're here," Foggy says as he walks over and leans down to his mini fridge and gets two beers. "you drink? It's cheap but it still does it's job."

"Yeah. I do. Pass one over." Matt says as he tries to pinpoint where Foggy's outstretched arm that his holding the beer is. He graciously nods and opens the can.

Matt takes a swig of the beer and nearly chokes. It takes every ounce of his willpower not to do a spit take all over the hardwood floor of his friend’s dorm. Now that would be a horrible first impression. Imagine being remembered as that dude who ruined your floor. "This is terrible!" He's coughing now.

Foggy pats his back and takes a big gulp of his own beer. "Hell yeah it is."

"You pride yourself in buying piss in a can?"

Foggy shrugs and takes another mouthful of the cheap alcohol. "At least it's inexpensive piss in a can."

"Anyway. Come on in. Welcome to my humble abode." Foggy says. "Mi casa es su casa. Make yourself at home my dear guest."

Matt laughs. "Such a gracious host. What will the master of the house be serving for dinner?"

"Tonight respected visitor, we will be serving, as you put it "piss in a can", Doritos chips, other chip like foods, and anything I have in the mini fridge that isn't moldy...which really isn't a lot." Foggy's says with a cheeky smile. "But till then. To the couch."

Foggy plunks himself down onto the old couch and Matt follows sitting a seat cushion away. "Well Mr..." He was waiting for Matt to reveal his last name.

"Murdock." Matt finally chimes in.

"...Murdock!. Shall we entertain ourselves?"

"We shall" They clinked their beer cans together and swallowed a big mouthful. Matt coughed again. There was a few laughs and more beer chugging. But that didn't last long.

What came next was the awkward silence.

Both of them just sat on the ratty couch and sipped the terrible beer. Foggy was tapping his foot on the floor. He had no idea how to do this. Because it wasn't a date and it wasn't a friend get together.

After a few more very awkward minutes of neither Foggy or Matt saying a word, Foggy finally decides to speak up.

"Do we need some music? I think we need some music." He says as he gets up and turns on the radio that was resting on the window sill

_I have this feeling inside me that I've always tried to hide_   
_This feeling has never ended, didn't ever subside_   
_I realized that keeping it would only cause me pain_   
_So I tried to forget about it but this feeling always remained_

_Tell me will I ever survive_   
_Stop my tears and keep it inside_   
_Holding back myself from being close to yo-_

Foggy changed the radio channel. No way was he going to listen to a song about love with Matt around. He would not subject himself to that kind of embarrassment.

And with that as if the gods hated Franklin 'Foggy' Nelson, another love song started playing on the new station.

_I wanna kiss you every minute, every hour, every day_   
_You got me in a spin but everything is A OK!_

_Touching you, touching me_   
_Touching you cause you're touching me_

_I believe in a thing called love_   
_Just-_

Foggy inhales deep gives the radio one more chance to redeem itself and changes the channel.

_In my life there's been heartache and pain_   
_I don't know if I can face it again_   
_Can't stop now, I've traveled so far, to change this lonely life_

_I want to know what love is, I want you to show me_   
_I want to feel what love is, I know you can show-_

With a huff Foggy turns off the radio and sits back down finding his half done beer can. He tips his head back and finishes it off.

"No luck with any good songs?"

"Noooope." Foggy says bluntly and takes another large gulp of beer of a new beer. His face was growing red. Out of all the possible times he could have invited Matt over, all the local radio station he know where playing love songs.

Matt knew very well that Foggy was embarrassed and laughed. He takes another sip of the horrible beer and almost gags.

"Foggy. I can't do this anymore." He feels around until he finds a coffee table to place his beer onto and looks right at Foggy. Or rather in the direction where his voice is coming from.

"Can't do what anymore?" Foggy panicked for a second. Did he do something wrong? Was Matt going to leave?

Matt grips Foggy's shoulders and gets in really close. "Drink your watered down piss beer." Matt says in a hushed voice. "Where is the closest beer store?"

\----------

"You are definitely exceeding my expectations Murdock." Both of them were on the way back to Foggy's dorm. They had just come back from the local beer store and were bringing back the bounty.

"So we are doing last names now?" Matt says walking next to Foggy. "Nelson."

"I guess we are." Foggy was holding a large bag of various different hard alcohols that they had both purchased together after Matt's refusal to drink the bad beer anymore. "You do know I won't be able to come to Hell's Kitchen and buy anything for a while, right?"

"Ah yes. The life of the broke student. Isn't it just lovely?"

Matt and Foggy where stumbling around as they walked on the side walk. They had drank a bit but the alcohol wasn't the reason they were stumbling. A couple of times Foggy had even wrapped his arm around Matt. But as soon as he recognized what he could be implying, he masked the gesture with giving Matt a nuggie or two.  _Gotta act like a bro!_ Foot would say to himself. 

"You are such a child."

"You say that like its a bad thing."

The walk would last another 5 or so minutes. During that time Foggy and Matt had warmed up to each other quite a bit.

"Matt," Foggy says. He stops walking and looks up at him and places the bag of drinks on the ground.

Matt stops in his tracks as Foggy brings his arms up to his head. "Your scarf looks ridiculous." Foggy was fixing it now. "I mean really how could you not see how badly you tied this? It's just a ball of fabric around your neck."

It took Foggy a few seconds to realize what he was doing. Shit. Matt wasn't even looking at him anymore. He could see Matt's face was getting a bit red.

"Oh. Oh my god!" He backed off. "It's a force of habit..." _Dammit Foggy! What the hell are you thinking?_ "Just ignore that." _And just when things get good I go and fuck things up again_ , Foggy thought picking up the bag again. He is your friend!  
"Well, this liver killer won't drink itself. Let's get back to the dorm." Foggy picks up the bag and tries to hide his embarrassment.

\--------

This time Foggy was determined to have no awkwardness when they get back to the dorm.  
He will make the rest of the night go as smoothly as possible. Even if it kills him. And he's most certain that it will.

As soon as both Matt and Foggy where in the room Foggy walks over to the tiny kitchen and cracks open a bottle of tequila from the bag.  
"Let's drink some real shit." Foggy pours a glass for Matt and holds it out. He keeps holding it for a few seconds before realizing Matt had only come far enough into the dorm to reach the coat rack. Which was right at the entrance.

"Matt? Are you coming in?"

"Ya. Uh I just need to," Matt had forgotten the layout of Foggy's dorm. It's very possible that the shitty beer he drank before messed with him. Matt's afraid he'll knock something over and break it. Even though Matt can see to some degree, it was still hard to navigate without knowing the room and not using his walking stick or making it obvious that he is blind. "Um. I really don't have a good excuse." He laughed.

Foggy makes his way over to Matt. "Come on buddy." Matt picks up on his voice and was able. to make it back to the couch.

"Here you go." Foggy takes Matt's hand and then puts the cup in his hand.

"Thanks." Matt says taking a very large mouthful of tequila. Maybe a bit too big of a mouthful.

"Matt." Foggy chugs a large amount of alcohol for confidence and spits out what he's going to say next. "Are are you blind?"

"I um." Matt had no idea what to say. Because technically he was but on the other hand he wasn't. "Ya, I am."

"Wait really? I wouldn't have even noticed. I mean I didn't notice well I did kinda notice because I did ask the question. But I especially didn't notice while you are in Hell's Kitchen. How do you get around so easily without a walking stick?" He takes a mouthful of tequila before he continues to babble and make more of an ass of himself.

"It's because I've memorized the layout of the shop and leave my cane in the back." Matt shrugs. _That wasn't a complete lie._ "And that was the point. No one really needs to know that I have a minor impairment. Once people figure out you're blind they don't even want to touch you because they think they are going to break you."

"Well you don't have to worry about getting treated like that around me." Foggy says proceeding to give Matt a clap on the back.

"Thanks Foggy." He coughs a bit. That was one hard hit.

"But wait. The first time you came in you seemed fine." Foggy asks feeling a bit confused.

Matt was a tad embarrassed to answer this question truthfully. "Well." He puts his hands on his lap. "That is because I follow your voice. It guided me to the couch as well as out the door again."

Foggy says nothing this times and just nods.

"But I do have one other very important question for you." Foggy made a very fake serious face. "I'm making a serious face right now." He says gesturing to his face. "I-I just gestured to my face."

"Foggy, it's ok. I get it." Matt laughs. "So what's this other question you need answered?"

Foggy takes a few seconds to get his question out.  
"Are you an undercover cop?"

Matt was taken back for a second. Where was this question coming from? "No...?"

"Ok good." And with that Foggy pulled a plastic bag out of his jacket pocket.

Matt could hear the rustling as Foggy takes out the bag. "What are you doing?"

Foggy laughs as he puts the bag onto the coffee table. "This, my dear and honoured guest is the best stress reliever for all." He took the contents of the bag out and lays it on the coffee table.

Matt seemed confused for a second. And then he smells it.

"Weed my dear friend. Dope, Mary Jane, hippie lettuce, a blunt, a doobie, cannabis! So much goodness such little lighter fluid." Foggy waits for Matt to say something and when he doesn't he continues to talk. "You don't mind if I take a few hits do you? This may be my dorm but I still need to be polite. I don't know if smoke bothers you or not."

"Go right ahead and enjoy your stress reliever." Matt leans back in the couch and finishes his drink. He's sure to grab another in a minute. I'm going to have to pee so badly after this... Matt thinks. It's going to be so embarrassing to ask Foggy to lead me to the bathroom.

With Matt's blessing Foggy stuffed his pipe with a good amount of weed, flicks his lighter and inhales.

After a few hits Matt realizes that Foggy's heartbeat had slowed down significantly. Had Foggy been stressed that Matt was coming over? Is that why he felt the need to smoke at this very moment? But then again it could just be the alcohol messing with Matt's head. Because Matt had drank quite a bit since they got back to the dorm and it's been known to blur his senses.

It was silent again but it was peaceful this time. No awkwardness. For now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> songs on radio in order of appearance:
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJQIr7M04Bo  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRYNYb30nxU  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raNGeq3_DtM


End file.
